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Japanese Company Gives Employees a ‘Pet Allowance’
by
findingDulcinea Staff
A pet food company in Japan offers employees money to help pay for pet care, but the Japanese are not alone in their four-legged fixation. Americans spent an estimated $41 billion on their pets in 2007.
30-Second Summary
Kyoritsu Seiyaku is giving employees about $9 each month to help them keep their pets healthy.
According to the BBC, the 1990s saw a boom in pet ownership in Japan with the purchase or adoption of nearly 18 million animals.
In fact, “Analysts say that many Japanese families are deciding to put off having children, and buy pets instead,” the BBC reports.
But Americans are no less engrossed in their animal companions. In 2007, U.S. consumers spent an estimated $41 billion on pet care.
An American Pet Products Manufacturers Association survey showed that ownership increased from 56 percent of households in 1988 to more than 60 percent in 2007.
According to MSNBC, pets first showed up in American homes after World War II. The widespread move to the suburbs meant families had more space and money for animals.
Now there are numerous specialty pet products on the market. Some are practical, such as sweaters that protect dogs in cold weather, while others, such as dog coffee and perfume, are either luxurious or silly.
Pets are sometimes written into their owners' will, though few are as lucky as the four-legged beneficiary of hotelier Leona Helmsley. Her dog, Trouble, inherited $12 million when Helmsley died.
Despite ample evidence that people in the West are no less goofy about their pets than the Japanese, a recent Internet hoax suggests that English-speaking peoples will continue to think otherwise. The hoax involved a slew of news stories about a company “fleecing” would-be poodle owners in Japan by selling them baby lambs.
The stories were eventually debunked, but not before they had made the leap from the Web to the mainstream press.
According to the BBC, the 1990s saw a boom in pet ownership in Japan with the purchase or adoption of nearly 18 million animals.
In fact, “Analysts say that many Japanese families are deciding to put off having children, and buy pets instead,” the BBC reports.
But Americans are no less engrossed in their animal companions. In 2007, U.S. consumers spent an estimated $41 billion on pet care.
An American Pet Products Manufacturers Association survey showed that ownership increased from 56 percent of households in 1988 to more than 60 percent in 2007.
According to MSNBC, pets first showed up in American homes after World War II. The widespread move to the suburbs meant families had more space and money for animals.
Now there are numerous specialty pet products on the market. Some are practical, such as sweaters that protect dogs in cold weather, while others, such as dog coffee and perfume, are either luxurious or silly.
Pets are sometimes written into their owners' will, though few are as lucky as the four-legged beneficiary of hotelier Leona Helmsley. Her dog, Trouble, inherited $12 million when Helmsley died.
Despite ample evidence that people in the West are no less goofy about their pets than the Japanese, a recent Internet hoax suggests that English-speaking peoples will continue to think otherwise. The hoax involved a slew of news stories about a company “fleecing” would-be poodle owners in Japan by selling them baby lambs.
The stories were eventually debunked, but not before they had made the leap from the Web to the mainstream press.
Headline Link: ‘Japan Firm Offers “Pet Allowance”’
In addition to a pet allowance, company officials at Kyoritsu Seiyaku are considering condolence leave for owners when their animals die. Because pet ownership in Japan spiked in the early 1990s, the country's 18 million cat and dog populations are getting older fast.
Source: The BBC
Related Topics: The American pet obsession
The majority of American homes have at least one pet. Nearly 50 percent of people who carry family pictures in their wallets have a pet snapshot there as well. Americans spend billions of dollars on toys, veterinary care and day care for their pets. There are even pet cemeteries, urns for ashes and condolence cards. “In some ways, an event is culturally relevant when Hallmark makes a card,” Stephen Zawistowski, science adviser for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, told MSNBC.
Source: MSNBC
‘Pampered Pooch Gifts’
For animals that seem to have everything, Reuters provides a list of luxurious pet gifts. Doggy Java, for example, looks like coffee when water is added, comes in a coffee bag, and is accompanied by a “bonescotti biscuit.” The department store Nordstrom sells nail polish, remover pads and a “softening paw balm.” The list also features perfume and pet armoires.
Source: Reuters
‘Helmsley's $12M Dog Feasts on Alpo’
Hotel magnate Leona Helmsley left her dog $12 million after her death in August 2007. Her will, however, snubbed a couple of her grandchildren. After Trouble received numerous dog-napping threats, her handlers took her from Helmsley’s 28-acre Connecticut estate to Sarasota, Fla. Trouble now enjoys the pleasures of a personal chef and a security team. The Maltese also sued last year by one of Helmsley’s former employees, who accused the dog of biting her and causing “permanent injuries,” according to New York Daily News.
Source: New York Daily News
Related Material: Poodle ‘lambs’ and urban legends
‘Dog Owners “Fleeced” in Poodle Scam’
In April 2007, Japanese actress Maiko Kawakami reportedly went on a Japanese television program with pictures of a "poodle" she had purchased that turned out to be a lamb. According to a story in Britain's Metro newspaper, “The discovery prompted hundreds of women to contact the police with similar problems and authorities believe as many as 2,000 people have been conned.” Allegedly, the company, called Poodles for Pets, was selling the lambs for half of what poodles normally go for in Japan.
Source: Britain's Metro
‘Ewe’ve Been Conned Ladies’
According to British newspaper The Sun, Kawakami “complained on a talk show that her new poodle refused to bark or eat food.” The online company was supposed to have imported “entire flocks” from Australia and Britain, billing the faux poodles as as the “must-have pet."
Source: British newspaper The Sun
‘Sheepish Discovery’
Urban legend debunking Web site Snopes determined that the lamb-poodle story was false. The site points out this legend's similarity to another in which a vacationing family bought what they thought to be a Chihuahua only to discover it was actually a large rat. Snopes writes that Kawakami never bought a lamb. In addition, the Japanese press never reported the story, and the police department that had been widely quoted in British newspapers had never heard about the so-called scam. “All in all, this was yet another case of an urban legend’s being recycled by a few news sources who weren’t about to let the truth get in the way of a good story,” Snopes concluded.
Source: Snopes
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